The Balanced Cafe App User Guide

You can make a meal by combining ingredients from the already scanned items in your pantry. These can be used for tracking your calories and creating meals plans. You can edit existing meals including ones shared by friends.

Use the Meal Categories  B/L/D/S to denote Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack. This simplifies your meal search when daily tracking and allows the app to calculate a weighted Balance Factor.

To make a meal:

1. On the Home Screen tap ‘My Pantry’, then tap ‘Make a Meal’. 
2. Enter a Meal Description and choose a Meal Category.
3. Tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.

To edit a meal:

1. On the Home Screen tap My Pantry, then tap the meal you want to edit.
2. Tap Edit this Meal.
3. Tap the ingredient you want to edit.

Create Recipes:

You can use a recipe to define the number of servings in a meal.  The Calories and Balance Factor for one serving are calculated automatically and one serving is then added to your Personalized Ingredients list.

To enter a recipe:

1. On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap Make a Meal.
2. Enter a description and meal category for the recipe.  
3. Tap Add an Ingredient.

To add a personalized ingredient:

1. On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap Personalized Ingredients.   
2. Tap “+”, then enter the information from your product’s Nutrition Facts label.

Meal Planning:

You can create a meal plan instantly by using your inventory of meals in My Pantry or recorded meals from previous days. The individualized meal plan is calculated using your ideal caloric goal and Balance Factor for a one or two week period.  You can print or email someone a copy of the meal plan and its grocery list.

To create a meal plan using meals from My Pantry:

1. On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry then tap Meal Planner.
2. Choose the My Pantry option, then tap GO!.
3. In the Meal Planner, tap # of weeks option then tap Create Meal Plan. 
4. Tap your starting date for the meal plan.

To create a meal plan from previous meal history:

1. On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry then tap Meal Planner.
2. Choose the What I Ate option, then tap GO!.
3. In the Meal Planner, tap # of weeks option then tap Create Meal Plan. 
4. Tap your starting date for the meal plan.

To print or email a copy of the meal plan and grocery list:

1. On the Home Screen, tap Calendar, then tap Upcoming Meals.
2. Choose the time period options then tap GO!.
3. Tap a date on the calendar for a start date, then tap a date for an end date.

Note: Meal plans will be entered into Daily Tracking and the Calendar.  Meals from the meal plans can be edited on a daily basis through the Daily Tracking program.

Track Meals:

The Daily Tracking program uses the colors – green, yellow, and red to help you choose meals that accumulate to meet your caloric goal.  It calculates a weighted Balance Factor that reflects the balance of macronutrients you are having at each meal and as a daily total. Do your best to stay in green, meaning that your meals are balanced. 

Meeting your daily caloric goal and eating a good balance of macronutrients at each meal, optimizes your metabolism, helps you burn excess body fat, and reduces your risk of disease.

To find your caloric goal:

1. On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking. 

To add meals to Daily Tracking:

1. On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking then tap Add a Meal.
2. Tap the Meal Category (B/L/D/S) you want, then tap the meal.
3. Tap Save.

To add ingredients to Daily Tracking:

1. On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking then tap Add an Ingredient.
2. Enter a product or brand name in the search bar.

To edit meals or ingredients in Daily Tracking:

1. On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
2. Tap the meal or ingredient you want to edit.

To see a breakdown of the day’s meals and ingredients:

1. On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
2. Tap the magnifying glass icon.

To edit a previous day:

1. On the Home Screen, tap Calendar.
2. Tap the day you wish to edit.

Recording Success

Share Meals and Ingredients

You can share the meals and ingredients that you have saved in your Pantry with other Balanced Cafe users.  This expands your meal options and helps to add variety to our meal planning and adds items to your “Ingredients List”. 

To share your pantry with friends:

1. On the Home Screen, tap the three dots then tap Share My Pantry.
2. Tap OK, then type an email address into the To: space then tap the arrow.

To edit the meals shared from other Balanced Cafe users:

1. On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap the meal you wish to edit.
2. Tap Edit this Meal.